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Sunday, November 12, 2017
Africa Oil Corp., partnered with Tullow Oil and Maersk Oil, concluded its exploration and appraisal drilling campaign in Kenya on Blocks 10BB and 13T. Two discoveries were made during the drilling campaign that was launched in January of this year with the drilling of the first discovery, the Erut-1 well.
The Erut-1 discovery proved that oil had migrated to the northern limit of the South Lokichar Basin. The partners’ second discovery took place in May with the drilling of the Emekuya-1 well. This well encountered significant oil sands, demonstrating oil charge across an extensive part of the Greater Etom structure and further de-risking the northern area of the basin.
TheEtiir-1 exploration well, which targeted a large, shallow, structural closure immediately to the west of the Greater Etom structure, spudded in late June and was unsuccessful with no material reservoir development or shows encountered. Although dry, Africa Oil said the results will be used to define the westerly extent of the Greater Etom Structure. The Etiir-1 well was plugged and abandoned.
The Ekales-3 well was drilled to a total measured depth of 2,721 meters. The well targeted an undrilled fault block adjacent to the Ekales field. While reservoir and oil shows were encountered, and oil sampled, the well was deemed non-commercial.
The partnership drilled multiple appraisal wells on the Ngamia, Amosing, and Etom fields during the year:Ngamia-10 (65 meters of net oil pay);Amosing-6 (35 meters of net oil and gas pay);Amosing-7 (25 meters of net oil and gas pay); and Etom-3 (25 meters of net oil and gas pay). An extensive wireline evaluation program, including sampling has been undertaken on all appraisal wells. The Ngamia-10, Amosing-6 and 7 and Etom-3 wells have all improved the definition of the limits of their respective fields. However, the presence of rift edge facies has limited their net pay. These drilling results will be incorporated into the geological models that will be utilized for potential fields development plans.
The Auwerwer and Lokone reservoirs in the Etom-2 well were tested utilizing artificial lift and flowed at 752 bopd and 580 bopd respectively which was lower than anticipated. As a result, the JV partners will undertake further technical work to assess how representative the tests may have been and identify potential options to increase flow rates from the Etom field.
Activity will now move to focus on collecting dynamic field data through extended production and water injection testing. The Ngamia-11 appraisal well (143 meters of net oil pay) has been completed and will be utilized in a waterflood pilot test planned for H1 2018. The waterflood pilot will include the previously drilled Ngamia 3, 6 and 8 wells. This pilot is designed to deliver a long-term assessment of the rate of enhanced oil recovery that may be expected as a result of water injection. The waterflood pilot follows up the successful water injection testing program which was completed during H1 2017 on the Ngamia and Amosing fields.
Additionally, the partnership aims to initiate extended well testing on wells in the Amosing and Ngamia fields, commencing in the first quarter of 2018. Produced oil from testing will be stored and is planned to be transported as part of the Early Oil Production Scheme (EOPS). This scheme will initially entail the evacuation of stored crude oil to Mombasa by road, and first production from EOPS is now expected to commence in the first half of 2018, subject to receiving the necessary consents and approvals.
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